Syrians express jubilation during first Friday prayers since overthrow of Assad

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Welcome to the "News Hour."

  Barely a week after President Bashar al-Assad fled the country he destroyed, Syrians across the nation welcomed the first Friday prayers of the new Syria today.

• Geoff Bennett:

  There are many unanswered questions about this new Syria, but one thing is for certain. As Syrians return to their homes from displacement within Syria or abroad from the southern reaches of the nation to the ancient city of Aleppo in the north, there is unfettered jubilation.

  And special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen joins us now from Aleppo.

  Leila, you were in Homs and Aleppo today for the first Friday prayer since Assad fell. What did you hear from the people you encountered?

• Leila Molana-Allen:

  It was quite astounding to be out on the streets and see the level of celebration, because, of course, the people who are out celebrating in both these cities are those who have been living in regime-held territory and those who have come home since they fell.

  Aleppo was the first major city that HTS and the rebels took a week ago now, and it was an extraordinary fall, very fast. The first couple of days were very difficult, because the Russians were bombing here, but that then stopped. And now really there is a sense of huge freedom and optimism.

  And, of course, Friday prayer is so important, brings many people together. And many of the rebels, the vast majority, were Sunni Muslims, so they have been going to the mosques to give thanks, waving revolutionary free flags.

  In Homs, there were HTS fighters wandering around, shaking hands with people, lifting up children, taking photographs, taking selfies with everyone. They were taking selfies with Western reporters, so it was really a sense of anything goes, and this is the first Friday prayer of a new free Syria.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And, as you mentioned, people are just now returning to homes that they fled years ago. How is that going?

• Leila Molana-Allen:

  It's incredibly difficult.

  There's a huge amount of joy as families reunite, but a huge amount of anguish as well as they come home and discover their homes in pieces. Many of these people fled under heavy bombardment from the Assad regime, from across these areas, Homs, the countryside of Aleppo, the countryside of Damascus.

  And I have been going through those areas in the last couple of days, meeting the families as they explore the remnants of their homes, remembering the family members they lost there, the terrifying experiences they had, and picking through the rubble to see if they might be able to bring their lives back.

  Now, people are traveling across the country to do this, crossing borders that previously were uncrossable. There are really powerful stories from people about when cities began to fall last week, people saying, oh, I can go home, and people would say, no, no, you can't cross there, you don't have the right I.D., and they would be told, no, it's over, there are no more I.D.s.

  There are no more checkpoints. It's open. You can drive down the road. Real shock, disbelief, and as I say, eventually, just overwhelming joy as people were able to go home and go back to the places that they fled so many years ago and had been separated from.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Well, how is the international community, Leila, engaging with this major change in Syrian governance?

• Leila Molana-Allen:

  So, the international community, the Western governments, certainly, have essentially completely abandoned Syria.

  Of course, since that red line that Barack Obama implemented in 2013, saying that if Assad used chemical weapons against his people, America would be forced to act, and then he used them several times, and nothing was done, there has really been very little action in Syria on the part of Western nations.

  So people here feel very abandoned. Now, of course, there is an opportunity for Western nations to get involved in potentially a new Syria. There are three key issues here that condition their response. The first is the terrorism listing. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham is currently on the terrorist list.

  Secondly, sanctions and third, of course, Syrian refugees. So in terms of that terrorism listing, there have already been suggestions from the U.N. special envoy that they should reconsider that because Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham has been trying to liberalize in recent years and is currently saying we will continue to be liberal here and we will embrace all minorities here in Syria.

  It will be very difficult for them to run a government in Syria if they are still on that terrorism list. Sanctions, similarly, Syria has suffered so much under these sanctions over the years. The economy is in dire straits here. People haven't been able to rebuild their homes. No one has work.

  Removing those sanctions would help the situation so much and bring prosperity quickly, which is the best chance of having peace here, because, when people have opportunity, of course, that's what they support, rather than being disgruntled and potentially those divisions rising up again.

  However, the problem with sanctions is, it's not a switch. They are incredibly complicated and they are within the U.S. They are from the U.N. They are from the E.U. All different listings, all whether they're financial, whether they're to do with trade, whether they're to do with borders.

  So lots of engagement and agreements potentially going on behind the scenes as people discuss that. And, lastly, of course, the big motivator here, particularly for E.U. countries and Turkey, is the refugees. If they can create a peaceful situation in Syria that's moving towards a genuinely liberal government, where the economy can recover and people can live good lives, they will then be able to fairly send Syrian refugees back home knowing it's a safe place for them to live.

  Many of them want to go home if it is a safe place for them to live. So that's a huge motivator for those E.U. nations.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen reporting tonight from Aleppo.

  Leila, thank you.

• Leila Molana-Allen:

  Thank you.